EMERGENCY something wrong with RIR

Yesterday my RIR was perfectly fine nothing unusual. I get home from work today and she is just laying in the cope. I pick her and she is very weak. I set her in the isolation box and she is just lying there with her eyes closed breathing heavly. Is it the heat? What do I do?

well she just died....I'm so confused...she was perfectly fine yesterday.

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Could have been any number of issues. How hot is it? Heat will kill chickens,if in future any chicken shows signs of heat stress(hard panting,wings spread,lethargic,not eating/drinking) immediately submerge them into a pail of COOL water,do not ever use COLD water(cold will shock her)this will drop body temp and will save lives. Could she have had impacted crop,egg bound,vent issues,as you can see it could have been anything. Always look at your chickens poop daily,doing this will alert you to the fact that something is wrong,the condition of their poop will indicate if there is any problem.

it was a 100+ today...I live in Louisiana. The other ones are sitting in the dirt breathing with their mouths open...but they been doing that since it got hot. I also introduced 2 chicks and they wont come out of the coop. Not even to eat or drink. I have to put the water and food inside with them. Are they scared to go into the run? Ive tried putting them in the run but they just immediately run back to the coop. That RIR was my best egg layer too. This sucks.

it was a 100+ today...I live in Louisiana. The other ones are sitting in the dirt breathing with their mouths open...but they been doing that since it got hot. I also introduced 2 chicks and they wont come out of the coop. Not even to eat or drink. I have to put the water and food inside with them. Are they scared to go into the run? Ive tried putting them in the run but they just immediately run back to the coop. That RIR was my best egg layer too. This sucks.

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The chicks are probably very afraid to show themselves because it's very likely they will get the snot beat out of them. Very dangerous to place chicks in with existing, mature flock. I don't integrate chicks until they are the same size as the older birds.

As for the bird that died...could have been almost anything. Underlying disease process, heart or other organ failure, no way to know without a necropsy. Chickens are remarkably good at hiding any illnesses so sometimes they appear to drop dead very quickly without showing much or any signs.

Being in Louisiana you probably also have humidity? Very hard on chickens. Put up a fan for them, a place to get their feet wet helps a lot too. We had a heat wave here a while back, temps between 105 and 110 with high humidity too. My birds would park themselves in the puddle in front of the fan, it really helped cool them down. We also have fans on in the coops at night in really hot weather.

it was a 100+ today...I live in Louisiana. The other ones are sitting in the dirt breathing with their mouths open...but they been doing that since it got hot. I also introduced 2 chicks and they wont come out of the coop. Not even to eat or drink. I have to put the water and food inside with them. Are they scared to go into the run? Ive tried putting them in the run but they just immediately run back to the coop. That RIR was my best egg layer too. This sucks.

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Way too hot for chickens. Chickens do not have any sweat glands,they rely on their respiratory system to cool themselves down,that is why they pant,spread wings,etc. Their body temp ranges from 103-107 degrees Fahrenheit depending on age of chicken. If their body temp reaches anywhere around 113 degrees and up,they are in immediate danger. You could submerge your girls in cool water as described in my post above. Your girl probably died from heat stress. Hose down your coops to cool everyone off. Look on forums for ways to help your girls stay cool,some are fans,frozen water/milk jugs placed in nest boxes,water bowls,around coops(chickens will lay against them)frozen watermelon/other fruit,hose coops down,small child's pool with enough water to get feet wet. Have chicks been recently introduced,if yes,make sure no other hens are picking/attacking them,this can and does happen.